Lakeside man gets reward for tracking robber

A Lakeside man is getting a payday after his help led to the arrest of the serial bank robber known as the motorcycle bandit.

Billy Rice, a 62-year-old retiree, received $5,500 in rewards for tailing and helping identify the robber.

Rice was at Glacier Bank in Lakeside on Sept. 28, 2011, to deal with an account issue and visit some of the tellers, who are friends.

While Rice and the tellers were chatting, a man wearing a motorcycle helmet entered the bank, brandished a gun and robbed the tellers, fleeing with $13,592.

After the bank robber jumped on a red dirt bike outside the bank, Rice got on his own motorcycle and tailed him, keeping his distance for fear of being shot. Rice followed the robber as he turned up Bierney Creek Road and headed into the woods, despite the fact that Rice didn’t know the road.

“I got to a substation and turned my bike off, and I could hear that little bike that he had,” Rice said.

Rice then happened to look across an open field and saw a truck, so he turned around and rode back to the turnoff for the road and waited for the truck, believing it to be driven by the robber.

“He pulled out of the woods and come down and I got a really good look at him,” Rice said. “I followed him down the road as he went back by the bank.”

Not only was Rice able to get the license plate number, but also a detailed description of the truck, including the fact that it had a taillight out on the passenger side.

He provided all his information to law enforcement and rode with the SWAT team to where he found the truck. Law officers then were able to track down the culprit, 56-year-old Bigfork resident Steven Dee Norred, and arrest him later that night.

Norred was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison.

What Rice didn’t know at the time was that there had been rewards offered for any information leading to the arrest of the bank robber. Rice said he just followed him as a natural instinct.

“I didn’t even think twice about it,” he said. “I just thought, ‘You ain’t getting away.’”

When Rice found out about the rewards, he contacted public relations at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“When I told her who I was, she said that they were excited about me calling because they knew what had happened,” Rice said. “She got an FBI agent to call me, who told me I was going to get the reward, he just had to get it approved. They were really happy that I’d done what I did because if I didn’t, they’d probably still be chasing this guy.”

For his good deed, Rice received $5,000.

“I told the FBI agent, ‘I’m going to start sitting at the banks,’ and he laughed,” Rice said.

Rice also received $500 from Crimestoppers. He said he believes Glacier Bank President Bob Nystuen turned his name in for that reward.